Yesterday, we dug and ate our first home-grown potatoes of the year (pictured). Last night, I taught a cooking class on how to make potato gnocchi. Several students took the class because of their previous gnocchi-making failures. We discussed how much flour to add to the potato and how to knead the dough. Then Heidi […]

Food is divided into several groups: protein, grains, vegetables, fruits. And then there is bacon, which is in its own food group, called Addictive Food. Bacon is sweet, salty, and crunchy, which means we want to eat it at any time of day. If a piece of bacon is left on a tray, it will be […]

Join our Cookie Club! Every week this summer, we will post a different cookie recipe, plus we are baking all these delicious treats. Please drop by Kitchen Conservatory to try our favorite cookies! The store manager, Hilda Willman, shares the recipe for her mother’s signature cookie, which her family has baked every year since the 1940s. Hilda […]

How do peas know? We installed the chicken wire along the row of green peas and less than two hours later, the pea tendrils had reached out and touched the wire! Peas like to climb up things, rather than flop on the ground, so their tendrils curl around any support they can find. Peas are rarely […]

Since the weather is still clammy, it is still soup weather! Colby Erhart, who is the executive chef at Chez Leon in Clayton, demonstrated a deliciously rich and flavorful mushroom soup in cooking class that everyone loved. Chef Colby, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, loves French food and trained under Chef Pierre Chambrin […]

With a combination of sweet and hot flavors, pepper jelly is a delicious condiment on so many foods, including cheese, meats, and breads. The jelly can be made with any kind of pepper — from sweet bell peppers to red hot chile peppers or a combination. The peppers are balanced with fruit, sugar, and vinegar to tingle the […]

Last year, I described the advantages of planting and staking tomatoes using the Florida weave. We liked the technique so much that we are doing it again. In the first picture, the tomato are planted between the stakes. (In the background are our potato plants, which have grown like Jack-and-the-beanstalk, and the much smaller rows […]

Local strawberries are ready to pick and they are very sweet and delicious. Time to dust off a classic strawberry salad for dinner! Last year, I was obsessed by goat cheese and strawberries (see this strawberry tart). Well, I still think goat cheese is a great combination with strawberries, so I added cheese to this favorite salad. […]

Many cooks suffer from impatience in the kitchen; they keep flipping the meat over on the grill, trying to make it cook faster. But cooking requires patience and food won’t cook unless it it left alone to cook. Yes, I am guilty as charged. Now, this lesson may seem inappropriate for a stir-fry, but I’ve […]

Nancy asks, “How do I peel pearl onions easily? The thin papery skins are almost impossible to remove without taking a layer of the onion with them. Is there a trick to doing this? Thank you!” Yes, there is an easier way. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the onions for a […]